According to an aspect of an embodiment, a method of modulating supervisory data onto an optical signal includes receiving supervisory data and adjusting a characteristic of a carrier of the optical signal for at least one of a first polarization component of the optical signal and a second polarization component of the optical signal based on the received supervisory data. The characteristic may be adjusted such that there is a relative difference between the characteristic for the first polarization component and the second polarization component. The relative difference of the characteristic between the first polarization component and the second polarization component may indicate the supervisory data. Alternately, the characteristic may be adjusted such that there is a change in a polarization orientation of the carrier on a Poincaré sphere that indicates the supervisory data.